Daria: Pinch Sitter (1997)

Synopsis
by Brian J. Dillard

Daria (voice of Tracy Grandstaff) comes face-to-face with the horrifying reality of New Age enlightenment on the same night that Quinn (voice of Wendy Hoopes) discovers the joys of time management in this episode of the animated MTV series Daria. Although the Morgendorffer sisters' evenings couldn't be more different, their experiences both stem from Quinn's attempt to weasel out of a babysitting gig so a rich boy named Skyler can squire her to Chez Pierre. Daria reluctantly takes the job, but Helen (voice of Wendy Hoopes) is so annoyed with Quinn's irresponsibility that she sets the girl up with an organizational consultant. By the time Quinn's big night rolls around, the fashion maven has systematized her dating strategies and resolved to string Skyler along so she can enjoy his parents' boat all summer, then dump him in the winter for another boy whose family owns a ski retreat -- time management in action, although perhaps not exactly what her mother had envisioned. Meanwhile, Daria is suffering through her evening with Tad and Tricia Gupty, her eerily mature charges. The children of a pair of NPR-listening, television-eschewing, macrobiotic-eating control freaks, Tad and Tricia are so overly precious and disdainful/ignorant of popular culture that Daria has no choice but to call for reinforcements. Soon, she and Jane (voice of Wendy Hoopes) are bypassing the parental controls on the cable box, introducing the tykes to the joys of refined sugar, and creating revisionist fairy tales for their enjoyment. In the end, the job leaves her with plenty of material for a paper about mind control for Mr. DeMartino (voice of Marc Thompson). As for poor Quinn, Skyler sees past her newfound organizational skills -- and her shallow covetousness.